Amusing Monday: Ten new species, each with unique stories to tell

An international team of taxonomists has chosen the “Top 10 New
Species of 2018” from among some 18,000 new species named last
year.

They range from the large — a majestic tree that is critically
endangered — to the small — a microscopic single-celled organism
discovered in an aquarium with no obvious connection to any known
species.

They include a fish that has survived in the deepest, darkest
part of the Pacific Ocean — at record depth — with credit for its
discovery going to a team of scientists led by a University of
Washington researcher.

The list of new species also includes a rare great ape — an
orangutan that has been identified as a separate species — as well
as a prehistoric marsupial lion identified from fossils found in
Australia.

The 11th annual list is compiled by the International Institute
for Species Exploration at the College of Environmental Science and
Forestry at the State University of New York.

College President Quentin Wheeler, the founding director of the
institute, said the annual list demonstrates the value of species
exploration and diversity.

“I’m constantly amazed at how many new species show up and the
range of things that are discovered,” he said in a news
release.

“We name about 18,000 per year but we think at least 20,000 per
year are going extinct,” Wheeler said. “So many of these species —
if we don’t find them, name them and describe them now — will be
lost forever.

“And yet they can teach us so much about the intricacies of
ecosystems and the details of evolutionary history,” he added.
“Each of them has found a way to survive against the odds of
changing competition, climate and environmental conditions. So each
can teach us something really worth knowing as we face an uncertain
environmental future ourselves.”

Wheeler blames humans for the high rate of extinctions. “At this
stage, it’s us,” he explained. “People are altering habitats and
changing the climate. As inconvenient as it might be to adapt to
climate change with our crops and relocate cities in the most
extreme scenarios, what we can’t do is bring back species once
they’re gone.”

The top-10 list is made public each year around May 23 to
recognize the birthday of Carolus Linnaeus, an 18th century Swedish
botanist who is considered the father of modern taxonomy.

Swire’s Snailfish: Deepest fish in the sea

Pseudoliparis swirei

Its appearance reveals nothing about its character, but a fish
that lives in the deepest, darkest part of the ocean must be doing
right. The newly named Swire’s snailfish (Pseudoliparis
swirei) is about 4 inches long with a translucent,
tadpole-like body with no scales — and no other fish on Earth has
been found in a deeper location.

Large numbers of the new species were captured in baited traps
in the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific at depths between
22,000 and 26,000 feet (between 4 and 5 miles deep). One fish was
recorded on camera at 27,000 feet, but without a specimen
researchers could not be confirm it as the same species.

A scientific paper describing the fish was published in November
in Zootaxa,
and Michelle Ma of
UW News reported on the discovery.

“This is the deepest fish that’s been collected from the ocean
floor, and we’re very excited to have an official name,” lead
author Mackenzie Gerringer, a postdoctoral researcher at UW’s
Friday Harbor Laboratories, was quoted as saying. “They don’t look
very robust or strong for living in such an extreme environment,
but they are extremely successful.”

Mackenzie also spoke with Craig Welch of National Geographic,
who said the pressures that the fish endure are equal to the weight
of 1,600 elephants.

“There are real limitations to life in these trenches,” she
said. “They have evolved adaptations to that pressure to keep their
enzymes functioning and membranes moving.”

P. swirei belongs to the snailfish family, Liparidae.
Among the family’s more than 400 named species are fish found at
all depths, from intertidal pools to the deepest reaches. It is
believed that about 27,000 feet is a physiological limit, meaning
that no fish can live in water any deeper.

Tapanuli Orangutan: Endangered great ape

Pongo tapanuliensis

Orangutan // Photo:
Andrew Walmsley

Genomic evidence has revealed that a small, isolated population
of Sumatran orangutans is so distinct from other orangutans in the
region that they should be considered a separate species. With only
about 800 known individuals remaining, Pongo tapanuliensis
becomes the most endangered population of great apes in the
world.

In 2001, the orangutans of Sumatra and Borneo, which had been
considered one species, were recognized as two: Pongo
abelii and Pongo pygmaeus. Before naming the new
species, an international team of researchers examined the
morphometric, behavioral, and genomic evidence of the various
orangutan populations. Genomic evidence shows that the new species
— isolated at the southern limit of the range occupied by Sumatran
orangutans — diverged from other orangutans some 3.4 million years
ago, whereas the northern Sumatra and Borneo species separated
about 674,000 years ago.

The importance of this finding was quickly recognized, as the
estimated 800 individuals live in fragmented habitat spread out
over 250,000 acres in forested hillsides with elevations ranging
from 1,000 to 4,000 feet.

Size of the new species is similar to other orangutans, with
female heights under 4 feet and males under 5 feet. Researchers
discuss the unique characteristics of the new species and how it
was identified in
“The Conversation.” Meanwhile, several conservation groups
continue their efforts to save the last orangutans from
extinction.

Orangutans are considered great apes — although eastern and
western gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos are more closely related
to humans.

Atlantic forest tree

Dinizia jueirana-facao

Brazilian tree // Photo:
Gwilym P. Lewis

More than 10 years ago, the biodiversity manager at a forest
reserve in Brazil sent taxonomic researchers samples from a large
tree that he believed was different from other trees in the region.
After much work, the tree was revealed to be a new species of the
genus Dinizia, which until last year had been represented
by only one species, D. excels.

The new species, Dinizia jueirana-facao, grows up to
130 feet tall and rises majestically above the surrounding canopy
of semi-deciduous, riparian trees in Atlantic Forest. The new
species is smaller than its closest relative and has been found
only in and near to the forest reserve, Reserva Natural Vale in
northern Espirito Santo, Brazil. So far, only about 25 individual
trees have been found, with about half in the protected area.

Like the large parent tree, its woody fruits are impressive,
reaching about 18 inches long.

More than 2,000 species of vertebrate animals live in the
Atlantic Forest, including almost 200 endemic species of birds.
This forest is home to more than half of the threatened animal
species in Brazil. The critical habitat has been severely reduced
and fragmented, leaving perhaps 15 percent of what had once been a
connected ecosystem of more than 330 million acres.

Protist: Aquarium to enigma

Ancoracysta twista

Protist // Photo: Denis
V. Tiknonenkov

Discovered on brain coral in a tropical aquarium in San Diego, a
single-celled protist has challenged scientists to determine its
nearest relatives. It does not fit neatly within any known group of
organisms, and nobody knows where it may have come from.

Early lineage has been linked to the domain Eukaryota, the
highest taxonomic rank, and this new species features a rich
mitochondrial genome. Eukaryotes are organisms with cells that have
their genetic material bound within a nuclear membrane.
Prokaryotes, found in the domains of bacteria and archaea, lack
such an organized nucleus.

Eukaryotes include single-celled protists as well as a vast
array multi-celled organisms, including animals, plants and
fungi.

The new species, named Ancoracysta twista, is a
predatory flagellate that uses its whip-like flagella to propel
itself through the water. Its harpoon-like organelles, called
ancoracysts, can immobilize other protists on which it feeds.

Researchers say the unusually large number of genes in its
mitochondrial genome opens a window into the early evolution of
eukaryotic organisms. A search for close relatives will be an
ongoing challenge following the discovery of this new species at
the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego.

Amphipod: Hunchback creature

An amphipod, about 2 inches long, has been named Epimeria
Quasimodo, after Victor Hugo’s character, Quasimodo the
hunchback. Featuring a somewhat humped back, the new species is
among 26 new species of amphipods of the genus Epimeria
that have been identified in the Southern Ocean.

With incredible spines and vivid colors, the genus
Epimeria includes both free-swimming predators and sessile
filter feeders, and it has taken on an iconic status among
biologists studying the creatures. The genus is abundant in the
glacial waters circulating south of the Polar Front, and their
crested adornments are reminiscent of mythological dragons, they
say.

When a treatment of the genus was published in 2007, many
researchers assumed that the species were rather completely known.
But, by studying the morphology and DNA evidence, two Belgian
investigators demonstrated just how little is known of these
spectacular invertebrates.

Baffling Beetle: Camouflaged hitchhiker

A tiny beetle in Costa Rica, newly named Nymphister
kronaueri, survives among ants by pretending to be a piece of
the ant’s body.

At just 1.5 millimeters, the beetle goes for long travels with
army ants, Eciton mexicanum, which never builds permanent
nests but instead spends two or three weeks on the move as they
capture prey, then lay up in one location for the next two or three
weeks.

The hitchhiking beetle can move about and feed while the host
colony is stationary, but it must be ready to catch a ride when the
ants take off on their next trip.

The beetle’s body is the precise size, shape and color of the
abdomen of a worker ant. The beetle uses its mouthparts to grab the
skinny portion of the host abdomen and hang on, appearing as a
second abdomen. In addition to their appearance, they use chemical
signals and other adaptations to avoid becoming prey themselves,
but exactly how they fool the ants remains a subject of
investigation.

Heterotrophic Flower: Magnificent moocher

Sciaphila sugimotoi

Symbiotic plant //
Photo: Takaomi Sugimoto

Most plants are autotrophic, meaning they feed themselves by
capturing solar energy through photosynthesis. A few, like the
newly discovered S. sugimotoi, are heterotrophic, meaning
they cannot produce their own food and must depend on other
organisms.

This new species of plant is symbiotic with a fungus, which
provides nutrition, and neither species is harmed during the
process. It turns out that this new plant is part of a family,
Triuridaceae, made up of individuals that all derive their
nutrients from symbiotic fungi, thus they are called
mycoheterotrophs.

The new plant, which features a beautiful flower, was discovered
on Ishigaki Island in Japan, which has added to its acclaim, since
most plants found in Japan have been well documented over a long
period of time.

The delicate S. sugimotoi, which grows to just under 4
inches, appears during short flowering times in September and
October, producing small blossoms. The species is considered
critically endangered, as it has been identified in only two
locations on the island where about 50 plants were found growing in
an evergreen broadleaf forest. Like other fungal symbionts, the
species depends on a stable ecosystem for survival.

Volcanic Bacterium: Emergent with volcano

Thiolava veneris

Colonizing bacteriaPhoto: Miquel Canals, U. of Barcelona,
Spain

When the submarine volcano Tagoro erupted off the coast of El
Hierro in the Canary Islands in 2011, it abruptly increased the
water temperature, decreased the oxygen level and released massive
quantities of carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide, wiping out much
of the existing marine ecosystem.

Three years later, scientists found the first living colonizers
in this newly deposited area, including a new species of
proteobacteria that produces long, hairlike structures composed of
bacterial cells within a sheath.

The bacteria formed a massive white mat extending nearly half an
acre around the summit of the newly formed Tagoro volcanic cone at
depths of about 430 feet. Scientists who studied the bacteria
concluded that unique metabolic characteristics allow the bacteria
grow under such stark conditions. Early colonies of this newly
discovered bacteria could pave the way for successional development
of plant and animal communities. The researchers dubbed the
filamentous bacterial mat “Venus’ hair” and named the bacteria
Thiolava veneris.

Marsupial Lion: Ferocious fossil

About 25 million years ago, a marsupial lion, newly named
Wakaleo schouteni, roamed Australia’s open forest habitat
in northwestern Queensland.

Scientists from the University of New South Wales recovered
fossils in the Riversleigh World Heritage Area in Queensland that
came to be associated with a previously unknown marsupial lion.

Weighing about 50 pounds — more or less the size of a Siberian
husky dog — this predator spent part of its time in trees. Its
teeth suggest that it was not completely reliant on meat but was,
rather, an omnivore.

Two species of marsupial lions may have been present during the
later Oligocene epoch, which ended with the Miocene 23 million
years ago. The other, Wakaleo pitikantensis, was slightly
smaller and was identified from teeth and limb bones discovered
near Lake Pitikanta in South Australia in 1961.

Evolution of the Australian creatures seemed to follow Cope’s
rule — named after American paleontologist Edward Cope — that
suggests an increasing body size over time, perhaps because of the
ability to eat larger prey and go longer between meals as the
climate grew drier and cooler and the plants underwent major
changes.

Cave Beetle: Changes in the dark

Xuedytes bellus

Cave beetle // Photo:
Sunbin Huang and Mingyi Tian

A variety of beetles that become adapted to life in the
permanent darkness of caves often resemble one another in a suite
of characteristics: compact body; elongated, spider-like
appendages; and loss of flight wings, eyes and pigmentation. A
newly discovered species of beetle in China seems to have taken
such changes to an extreme.

These cave-dwelling beetles provide an example of convergent
evolution, as unrelated species take on similar characteristics
over evolutionary time as they become better adapted to extreme
conditions. The new species of ground beetle, less than half an
inch long, features a dramatic elongation of its head and prothorax
— the body segment immediately behind the head to which the first
pair of legs attach.

Xuedytes bellus was discovered in a cave in Du’an,
Guangxi Province, China, known for its large number of caves that
have become home to the world’s most diverse collection of
cave-dwelling ground beetles found in the subfamily Trichinae,
family Carabidae. To date, more than 130 species, representing
nearly 50 genera, have been described from China.